Be advised the subject matter presented in this piece lands nowhere within the realm of “late breaking news”, actually dating back to 2011. But I felt it worthy of inclusion here for a number of reasons. Chief among them is it’s a very informative “eye-opener” which somehow managed to skate right by me as it was transpiring, probably because it was buried by the corporate-owned-and-regulated American mainstream media. And too, given all the latest trends, things could have only gotten worse since then.

The first feature is actually the most informative so if you only view one, you should make it the first one. But I liked the second one too for its more personal character and marginal observations, my personal favorite being: “Well, did America turn out to be anything like you thought it would be?”

“No, not at all. I thought it was the land of opportunity where all the people were really nice and helpful. I couldn’t have been more mistaken…”

What a scathing indictment of our country and its inhabitants. And in my view — at least generally speaking — entirely correct. The America of “here and now” really just isn’t anything like that anymore. In no way does it live up to its former glory and historic reputation. The nation is an emerging fascist police state ruled by an elite few who have usurped the over-bloated central government and shredded the Constitution, transforming the inhabitants into “sharecroppers on their granddaddy’s farms (Thomas Jefferson) in the process. And those inhabitants — i.e: us — are rapidly degenerating into something less than human, and more akin to self-absorbed crabs-in-a-bucket, fueled by geed and fear… who, if they’re not busy trying to beat your butt out of something, won’t give you the time of day… unless it’s to rain all over your parade and whittle you down a peg… to drag you into the bucket with them and to keep you there “where you belong”… Crab-In-a-Bucket 101.

This is actually a psychopathic mindset, and either by sheer coincidence or insidious design, the entire society is now collectively adopting it. This has no happy ending. The historically inevitable result of such a trend is complete catastrophy if not utter annihilation (think Nazi Germany and the rise and fall of The Third Reich).

So… I believe every man, woman and child in this country should listen carefully to the Chinese student’s comments in the second video — the thoughts and reflections of an outsider looking in, who can see the forest for the trees — and take them as a wake-up call. Because, as much as I know in my heart no one wants to hear this — let alone admit it and accept it — “We the People” are rapidly becoming “We the Problem”… and the only ones capable of correcting that problem are the very people themselves — US.

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Hershey’s Chocolate is being accused of hiring foreign exchange students and exploiting them for maximum profits. The students, from all across the world, were given an opportunity to come to the US in a cultural exchange program. Due to substandard working conditions, the students decided to protest against the corporation and demanded a refund for what they paid to join the program. Saket Soni, director for the National Guest Worker Alliance, tells us how far these corporations are willing to go for their profits.

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Foreign students were given an opportunity to come to the US in a cultural exchange program to be able to get a real feel for the American way of life. They were promised that they would make enough money to be able to travel around the US, but instead were used as cheap labor for Hershey packing chocolate. Trisha Li, one of the students, tells us what it was like.

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On Facebook, Hershey’s corporate PR department responded to the brave sit-in and strike by Hershey’s J-1 Student Workers with lame evasions and buck-passing.